1. Field
The presently disclosed embodiment concerns an electric knife, i.e. a knife in which a blade is maneuvered by an electric motor in order to assist the operator in their cutting task.
The presently disclosed embodiment applies in particular to knives of the replaceable blade “box cutter” type.
2. Brief Description of Related Developments
An electric knife of the “box cutter” type is known from United States Publication Nos. 2006/053631 A1 and 2010/199501 A1.
United States Publication No. 2006/053631 A1 describes a knife with a sawtooth blade that is moved to-and-fro along a longitudinal axis of the knife by a gear and lead screw system.
United States Publication No. 2010/199501 A1 for its part describes a knife with a straight-edged blade that is moved to-and-fro along a longitudinal axis of the knife by an annular ring system angularly offset relative to a motor shaft and forming a cam path for a fork including an axial rod for maneuvering the blade.
The above embodiments are based on an axial to-and-fro operating principle that is not satisfactory if it is wished to carry out cutting operations in which the edge of the blade is inclined at an angle less than 90° relative to the surface to be cut, for example to cut cardboard.